As the flu outbreak shows no signs of waning, the CDC has been hit by a scandal forcing its head to resign and the Trump administration is proposing drastic cutbacks to the programs that fight such epidemics.

The extension of the operation is part of the plans of the grand coalition between the SPD and Christian Democrats to further strengthen police powers and coordinate security policy on a European basis.

Even on essential safety issues like fire prevention, the Hackitt report considers it too great an imposition on landlords to demand, in law, that they carry out basic improvements such as fitting sprinkler systems in tower blocks.

Featured Interview

In October 2017, David North delivered a lecture on the centenary of the October Revolution at St. Andrews College in Scotland. Prior to the lecture, he was interviewed by Adam Stromme, the editor in chief of the St Andrews Economist, the official publication of the St Andrews Economics Society.

Commentary

Right on cue, as if acting in accordance with a carefully drafted script, pseudo-left organisations and individuals have stepped forward to provide justifications for new US operations in the Middle East.

Just a cursory glance at the politicians assembled in the German parliament to commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz makes clear the same ruling class that made Hitler chancellor 85 years ago is returning to its infamous traditions.

This week in history: February 12-28

In a bid to create conditions for US military intervention in the Balkans, the Clinton administration this week announced its opposition to a Bosnia peace plan put forward by the UN and the European Community.

On February 10, 1918, Leon Trotsky, the head of the Bolshevik delegation at the Brest-Litovsk peace talks with the Central Powers declared that the Soviet delegation considered the war to be over, but that it found the German-Austrian “peace” terms unacceptable.

Mehring Books

In a country where the working class and socialist movement in general has been dominated by Stalinism, Maoism and petty-bourgeois nationalist tendencies for decades, these books are of prime importance in developing socialist consciousness among workers and youth.

New in Arabic

We are publishing here, in one part, the Arabic translation of the two-part article series, “100 years since the Balfour Declaration.” This was first published on the World Socialist Web Site on November 7/8, 2017.